


Between the Shadows

by TheFantabulousPandemonium



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: M/M, Post-Game(s), Present Tense, Secondbestshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 02:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2565593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFantabulousPandemonium/pseuds/TheFantabulousPandemonium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wants - no, needs - someone to look at him the way Nate looks at his Pokémon.</p>
<p>(N thinks back. Back two years, four months and eleven days, watching awe turn to respect turn to slow, dulled hatred in the span of little more than a few weeks. It hurts.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Shadows

He wants - no,  _needs_  - someone to look at him the way Nate looks at his Pokémon. It's the wonder and awe as he stands there shivering in Kyurem's cavern, five seconds from freezing to death and ten seconds past a breathless victory. The silent contemplation in his ruined castle, fingers brushing against their pokéballs as if assuring them he's still there, makes him want to throw things in irrational anger. It's in the hesitant, reverent acceptance of the Dark Stone, the brief touch of their hands leaving him yearning for even the slightest taste of what all that  _love_  feels like.

( _N thinks back. Back two years, four months and eleven days, watching awe turn to respect turn to slow, dulled hatred in the span of little more than a few weeks. It hurts._ ) _  
_

Nate introduces each of them in turn though he can perfectly hear what they have to say by himself. From the Liepard winding around her trainer's legs protectively, eyeing him with distrust and purring gruesome threats under her breath, to the Leavanny who cut through Ghetsis'  Cofagrigus with meticulous ease, now inspecting him as if he were no more than a child to coddle. They all adore Nate with a surprising passion and he returns each display of affection with a disgustingly large grin just begging to be wiped off his face.

( _N doesn't know what to make of the Snivy resting on the trainer's shoulder and revelling in being handled like a common plaything. He has to know why. He learns far too late the haughty Serperior is named Sniper for a reason._ )

"Do you want to get an ice cream sometime?" Nate says at the top of Dragonspiral Tower. Icirrus City spreads out below them, the marshes to the east extending past it into the trees on the horizon. He's looking at him and smiling, squinting through the glare of the afternoon sun. The material of his shirt is curious and he wants to reach out and feel it, to guess what it is and is not. Nate keeps talking and his urge to say no dampens with every word.

( _Black would have said no. Had said no. Will always say no. N doesn't want to be Black today._ )

They take a stroll through Join Avenue after and Nate greets everyone with unapologetic enthusiasm, introducing him to the various shopkeepers and patrons. He wins a flask of berry juice at a raffle shop and the girl working the café they take a break at slides him a free drink with a wink. There's so much to do and see in what used to be bleak desert but Nate's looking at him like he's the best thing in the world. He needs to scream and break things because it's just too much to handle.

( _"Thank you," he says. N can't tell if its for anything more than paying for the ice cream but his smile could light up Nimbasa on its own and he's breathless in joy._ )

"I'm not one," Nate starts, shaking his head and examining N's fingers twined in his own with the same intensity he uses for choosing a Pokémon to battle, "I'm not one for flying much." It's two more years until he can bear to go back to Unova and everything's changed once again. Whole cities have sprung up where there once was untouched wilderness, disorienting him enough to have to ask for directions to the Avenue. Nate isn't there but the waitress recognises him and gives him a free meal with an offer to see him after her shift ends. He almost says no.

( _"The Boss left for the sea a long time ago."_ _She coos, too red fingernails tapping down N's spine. Look for Marlon, a kind-looking Breeder tells him on Skyarrow Bridge, look for Marlon and you'll find the Champion. A Veteran trainer in Castelia recognises him when he asks for directions and spits them loaded with insults. N doesn't ask after that._ )

He spends more time than he'd admit in the Marine Tunnel, watching Mantykes and Remoraids swim overhead through the weak morning light. Frillish drift past lazily, brushing the glass, and a swarm of Luvdisc hovers in the shallows closest to Humilau. There's only a young couple out this early but they're more interested in each other than him, sides pressed tightly together. He stands in the middle of the Tunnel with a hand pressed to the glass, peering down into the blackness of the Ravine.

( _N could swear it was peering back._ )

Nate's mouth gapes wider than a Magikarp before he fumbles for his oxygen mask to keep it from sinking back down into the ravine, an arm wrapped around his Golduck's neck for support. He holds up a finger to him before motioning to the Pokémon and they swim off toward Humilau, scattering a school of Basculin in his wake. He waits, hand slowly sliding off the glass. _  
_

( _His smile is brighter than the stars above Mount Silver and he's dripping wet and breathless, wrapping his arms around N's waist like they were made to fit there. Nate looks at him like he's the only one there, like he's the only living thing in the miles and miles of ocean surrounding them. It almost hurts._ )


End file.
